UNDP and The Global Fund act to safeguard programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Jun 14, 2011

Kinshasa — Following alleged irregularities in the management of grants to the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Global Fund and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have together temporarily stopped disbursements and payments to sub-recipients of these grants and put in place a number of interim measures to safeguard Global Fund resources.

UNDP’s Office of Audit and Investigation (OAI) is currently conducting investigations into these alleged irregularities in the Global Fund grants administered by UNDP in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The irregularities were detected during an internal UNDP financial review.

On receipt of these allegations, OAI alerted the Global Fund’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and has since provided further updates about the preliminary findings. UNDP and the Global Fund are working closely together to address the challenges faced in Democratic Republic of Congo and mitigate any risk.

UNDP and The Global Fund have also informed other international donors about the issues.

The investigation of these allegations has not yet been completed. However, preliminary indications have found evidence of irregularities involving several implementing partners (Sub-Recipients and Sub-sub-recipients). The OAI has therefore deployed a team of investigators to conduct further investigations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In response to these alleged irregularities, UNDP has also taken a series of strong measures to further intensify day-to-day oversight, supervision and internal controls.

The Global Fund has also agreed with two other Principal Recipients, Eglise du Christ au Congo and Cordaid , to temporarily stop disbursements and payments in DRC as they are looking into separate reports of irregularities by Sub-Recipients in these grants.

The temporary hold on disbursement and payments is a precautionary measure while awaiting more information about the nature and scale of the issues reported. Disbursements for life-saving drugs and services will not be interrupted.

Temporary withholding of disbursements are standard measures taken as part of the Global Fund’s normal grant management. Further measures may be put in place if the situation warrants it at a later stage.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an international financing institution that invests the world’s money to save lives. To date, it has committed US$ 21.7 billion in 150 countries to support large-scale prevention, treatment and care programs against the three diseases. Information on the work of the Global Fund is available at www.theglobalfund.org

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